Someone shouted.

Sirens wailed.

Then everything was gone.

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The room was cold and dark, the led lights flickered and one could hear the labored breathing of the room's single occupant. There was also a steady scratching sound like nails on tape. "Scratch scratch scratch." his arm ached. "Scratch scratch scratch." the ache wouldn't leave. "Scratch scratch scratch." he knows the pain used to be worse but he doesn't remember when.

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There's a door in the corner that the doctor came through to check up on the occupant. The doctor was talkative but he enjoyed the company. His room was very quiet without the doctor so the company was appreciated. Though the boy can keep himself occupied humans are social creatures they need positive interactions with other humans to keep sane. The boy barely ever had interaction with the doctor and the doctor was the only person he knows. The boy wants to leave the room but the doctor won't allow it.

Kreakkkkk, the door screamed and a large shadow was cast across the room. The occupant shivered at the noise and tried to look at where the doctor had come from but his vision was blocked. He tried to grasp for his board and marker but he was violently pulled away. The doctor gave him a jacket, some pants, shoes and a mask and told him to change out of his hospital gown. The boy quickly did as he was told and sat down in the wheelchair the doctor brought him. The boy tried to ask what was happening, but he quickly realised he didn't have his whiteboard or marker.

The doctor wheeled the boy out of his room for the first time into the empty hallway. The boy wanted to go back to his familiar room, this hallway made him uncomfortable and the lights hurt his eyes. He made airy noises trying to get the doctor to bring him back to no avail. The boy had wanted to leave the room that's for certain but he had wanted some sort of warning before it happened. He needed to mentaly prepare himself, he had never met another human before for god's sake.

As the wheelchair squeaked its way down the hallway, the boy got progressively more anxious. What are other people like? How should I communicate? What does the outside look like? How many other humans are there? And many other questions swarmed around his head but the biggest one was, where is the doctor taking me?

His neck hurt, there was always a dull ache in his throat it was persistent and never went away, but for some reason it started hurting more than usual. He stared down at his bandaged arms and hands, they had not hurt for a while now but the dull ache was making a comeback. His feet also hurt; he doesn't remember his feet ever hurting. It didn't make sense why were these body parts hurting all of a sudden?

He noticed a door that said MANAGEMENT to the left and then the wheelchair halted. The doctor then opened the door and put a wege underneath to keep it open as he wheeled the boy through. Once they both crossed the threshold the doctor closed and locked the door so no one else could come inside. Then the doctor pulled aside a bookcase blocking a door to where the boy assumed he was being taken. The hidden door opened into a long dark hallway that seemed to go on forever. The boy just wanted to go back to the comfort of his room. He didn't care that there were no people in his room, this place made him uneasy.

The doctor pushed him down the hallway and the darkness swallowed them both whole. The boy tried to stop the doctor, he tried to scream but all that came out was the sound of leaking air. The boy gasped for breath. He wanted to scribble on his whiteboard but that was back in his room, the only place he truly felt safe. The boy curled into a ball on his seat and hugged his knees to his chest.

The tunnel the both were in opened up into a poorly lit room filled wall to wall with monitors of the entire building and what the boy assumed was other buildings belonging to whatever this group was. The boy soon realized that whatever was causing this pain in his body this was the source. A steady beeping agitated the boy and he knew if he tried to stand up he would fall back into his seat. There was a squeak from an ancient rolly chair as the inhabitant of the room turned to look at the two people in their presence.

"Hello, I assume this means test 13 was a success?" the person on the chair said in a raspy voice.

"Yes master" the doctor responded. The boy noticed a slight quiver in his voice that betrayed his nervousness.

"Good" 'master' said "have you come up with a denomination for it? We can't just call it 13."

"I was thinking Ghost," the doctor responded. "I mean considering its circumstances..." the doctor trailed off. The newly dubbed Ghost was confused what did he mean by considering its circumstances? Was it because he was in his room his whole life?

"Makes sense" 'Master' said, cutting off the young boy's thoughts. "I like it." the doctor let out a sigh of relief. 'Master' then pressed a button beside one of the monitors and said something into the microphone. Almost immediately a black door appeared and swung open revealing a tall man in dapper attire. The newcomer stepped out and the black door disappeared.

"Why have you summoned me master?" the man said bowing.

"I would like you to take care of 13, whom we are now calling Ghost" Master stated "I presume you already knew this was to happen."

"Yes master" the man nodded "should I take Ghost back with me?"

"I was hoping you would but if you think it would be safer to take it to another location that would also be fine" Master sighed "I trust your judgement Samael" Samael nodded mumbling something Ghost couldn't make out. Samael reopened the black door and walked over to Ghost's wheelchair taking the doctor's position at the handles and pushed the young boy though the doorway.

The pain in Ghost's appendages quickly dissipated as the duo left the room and entered an unfamiliar place. The lighting didn't hurt the small boy's sensitive eyes which was nice, he removed himself from the balled up position he was in and stretched his legs and arms. The floorboards creaked as Samael pushed the boy towards a door on the other side of the room. Ghost felt weird being in a wheelchair when he could in fact walk on a normal day but today was definitely not a normal day. He knew that if he was able to stand without collapsing, walking would be even more of a challenge, so he decided that just staying put was his best idea.

The door creaked open revealing a small dark room with one bed and a small chair. Ghost stood up and clutched the wall as he limped his way to the small bed. Samael just stood there in shock due to the fact he was unaware the small skinny boy had the ability to walk. Ghost swiftly took off his sunglasses and mask revealing his alabaster skin with blue freckles running up the bridge of his nose. Samael now understood the boy's name, Ghost's misty blue hair only added to his ghostly appearance.

"Do you need anything?" Samael inquired "we have food, water..." he trailed off when he noticed the boy holding up two fingers signifying he wanted water. "Anything else?" the man asked looking at the small boy. Ghost opened his mouth to speak but only hot squeaking air came out. "Ill get you something to wright with" Samael decided looking over at the small boy who was frantically signing thank you. Samael quietly exited the room stealing one last look at the small boy.

As the door closed Ghost was instantly reminded of his room, he wondered if he'd ever get to go back there. This new place was strange and Samael very unlike the doctor whom the boy had grown accustomed to. It was too much for the small boy to take in, all the strange faces and places. Thoughts became overwhelming and he tried to clutch the sides of his misty head to block out the noise to no avail. He felt a pain in his neck and a feeling as if his arms were on fire and he heard distant screams of a name he couldn't make out. They felt like memories but the memories were not his for he had spent his entire life in that room. How then did he have these memories?

Ghost was saved by Samael returning with a glass of water, a whiteboard and some clothes. The small boy quickly consumed the entire glass scribbling a quick thanks on the whiteboard.

"Do you need any help getting dressed?" Samael asked and the small boy shook his head "ok i'll be outside if you need anything" and with that ghost was left alone yet again. He looked down at the white t-shirt and black pants, they would probably be pretty big on him but it would be better than having to wear a jacket over a hospital gown. He quickly put on the outfit and limped out of the room. Samael nodded as if making mental note of something.

"I'm glad you can walk now," Samael said, pating a stool that Ghost quickly sat down in. "you probably have a lot of questions so i'll try to explain everything. We are members of an organization trying to destroy the order, there are small groups of our men in places just like this who's job is to recruit members from the different order run orphanages and get them to turn on their caregivers. Make sense?" Ghost just blinked in confusion. "Ok so what are you confused about?" Ghost made a circle motion with his arms that Samael figured meant everything. "Do you not know what the orphanages are?" Ghost shook his head. "What about the order?" no "oddities?" nope "what do you know about" samael sighed. I know what an organization is. "Okay I guess I need to give you the very basics. So a long time ago humans developed powers now known as oddities. Do you understand that" Ghost nodded "okay. When oddities first manifested humans were terrified and forced people with oddities into seclusion. When oddities began to become a more common occurrence we created the first community with only inhabitants with oddities the government was known as The Order. Do you still follow?" The boy nodded "well oddity society spread and are now much more advanced than regular human society having even found a way to avoid ageing physically. The only issue was the order didn't let us live in unison with other humans. Well our group's goal is to take down the order" ok that makes sense. Ghost had a feeling he was going to be important to whatever Samael had planned.

Ghost was sitting on his bed doodling aimlessly in the notebook Samael had given him. There wasn't much to do in the repurposed building and it wasn't like he could go outside or do anything because of his injuries. Samael had said they would start the boy's training when his arms were healed completely but that seemed like a long while off. Ghost knew that he had an oddity that much was obvious just by looking at the boy but he had no clue what that oddity could do. Perhaps Samael would help him find out when he starts training the boy. He really looked forward to his training, not because he thought it would be fun but because it was something to do other than lie around all day. Granted now that he could walk Samael had put him on cleaning duty.

A large slam of the door startled Ghost causing him to make a large shaky line across his drawing. Samael wasn't one to slam doors in fact he seemed like someone who would chastise you for it which meant it probably wasn't him. Ghost stood up and walked to the door he reached his hand out to grasp the cold doorknob turning it slowly as the door creaked open.

"Oh Ohm welcome back how did the trip go?" Samael asked a skinny man who just grunted in response. The man who Samael had called Ohm had spit colored hair half red half black with a braid running along the top of his head he had long pointy ears and the biggest dark circles under his eyes Ghost had ever seen. Granted they were the only ones he had seen but still they were big and dark. The man's most striking feature was not his elf ears (though they were a strong contender) but in fact his one completely inky black eye. Ghost noticed the eye when Ohm noticed Ghost and the younger flinched under the piercing gaze.

"What's that thing" Ohm grunted, obviously not impressed.

"That 'thing" Samael sighed "is our newest recruit you know we are the shortest staffed of all of the factions" Ghost didn't understand a word of what Samael had just said but whatever it was struck a nerve and Ohm was fuming.

"Oh so your gonna blame me?" Ohm hissed "it's not my fault master keeps giving me useless recruits."

Samael just sighed "well it would be helpful if you and Ghost at least tried to get along" an electric shock went through Ghost's body and the boy shook his head violently to rid himself if the feeling "or you could not" Samael sighed throwing a glare at Ohm who smiled smugly.

Ohm slowly made his way towards Ghost and roughly put his hand on the boy's shoulder and pushed him towards a table, aggressively shoving him into a chair. Ohm's eyes scanned the boy's body, a grin growing on his face. Ghost fidgeted in the chair picking at the bandages on his arm, his blue eyes scanning the room thinking of an excuse to leave.

"You look nervous" Ohm snickered "don't be it's not like i plan on actually injuring you there's a slim chance you might be of use" Ghost quickly averted his gaze trying to be as small as possible. Ohm sighed "or you might not be" he rolled his eyes "say what's your oddity it better not be shit." Ghost panicked looking around for something to write on and with but found nothing. Panic takes over and Ghost tried to mouth 'I need my notebook' , his hands flailing as he tried to convey his message. Ohm just blinked "wow" he muttered as he started to slow clap "that was a lovely performance now can you please make sense?" Ghost just looked at the table in front of him, his heartbeat pounding in his eardrums. "Ohhhhh i see" Ohm exclaimed "you can't talk can you?" the small boy nodded vigorously. "You really are gonna be useless aren't you" Ohm sighed "go get something to write on and tell me what your oddity is, i'm getting bored."

Ghost quickly stood up and scampered towards his room swiftly closing the door behind him. He slid down the door the cold wood hitting his back as he let out a breath wheezing through his injured throat. Ghost reached his hand towards his head running his hands through the strange blue substance that made up his 'hair' in an attempt to relax. He heard the muffled voices of Samael and Ohm conversing through the door he assumed Samael was explaining the situation so there was no need to leave the room. Ghost sighed and relaxed, his shoulders feeling as though a great weight had been lifted. He slowly pushed himself off the floor careful to make sure the floorboards did not creak as he made his way to his bed. 

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thank you for reading the first chapter i hope it kinda makes sence as to what is going on. i know the characters' personalitys arnt super fleshed out yet but i hope to fix that in the upcoming chapters 

just curious, what are your thoughts so far?

thanks for reading -Noah